


Wynter Olympics

by Irving-Braxiatel (Elycia7)



Series: Wynter Olympics [1]
Category: Gallifrey (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: AU, Head Injury, Injury, Multi, Other, Winter Olympics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-08-29 11:11:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8487115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elycia7/pseuds/Irving-Braxiatel
Summary: Professional ice dancers Romana and Irving suffer an accident and are left to pick up the pieces of their lives.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IsolatedThinker (thejabberwocki)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thejabberwocki/gifts).



> The AU that started it all! On a fateful february day thejabberwocki posted this video https://www.facebook.com/iceskatiingworld/videos/1755911701304925/ on their blog, and that's what got us talking about a Gallifrey Winter Olympics AU. 
> 
> Since then the AU has grown and has become a whole verse. But this here is the idea that started it all.

"In sporting news: just a week after qualifying to the Winter Olympics, which are due to take place next year, rising ice dancing stars Romana Lundar and Irving Braxiatel suffered serious injuries during a training session earlier today. Their trainer reported this in an impromptu press conference earlier today." 

The image on the small TV hanging above Irving’s bed shifted to a picture of a short, grey man sitting at the middle of a table that looked much too large for him. "I regret to report that skaters Irving Braxiatel and Romana Lundar have been injured,” he said in his usual monotone voice, before the news anchor came back on screen. 

“The pair, nicknamed ‘the icicle and the ice maiden,’ have brought home medals after the last Winter Olympics and have won the world championship three years in a row. It is still unknown what injuries they have suffered, but it has been reported that Irving Braxiatel is conscious and will make a statement to the press tomorrow at-”

“Would you kindly turn that off,” Irving requested, his voice as strained as his patience. 

The nurse who was currently poking and prodding at the cast around his broken ankle looked up at the screen. “Sorry. Most of the time people appreciate the distraction.” 

“I would much rather listen to you muttering about my injuries than listen to the press theorise about them,” Irving sighed, lying back in the bed and looking out the window at the gloomy February sky. “Do I have any visitors?”

“Just the one,” she told him, presumably getting tired of his brooding. “I will let her in on my way out.” 

He lay back, conducting a detailed study of the uneven paint coat on the ceiling while waiting for his visitor to join him. They had told him he was in shock when they brought him in. A ridiculous notion, naturally. He wasn’t the one who was injured. Not really. 

“I thought you might stop by,” he greeted Leela as she made her way over to him. 

Leela sat down at the edge of the bed with her usual precision and decisiveness, only just avoiding disturbing his injured foot. 

“It’s good to see you,” Irving said, turning his head so he could look at her. 

“And you,” Leela said. “But not in this place. It reeks of death.” 

Irving closed his eyes.  

“You shouldn’t say that, Leela,” he finally said after a few moments silence. “Not when Romana… Not right now.” 

“She will wake up. Romana is strong.” 

He had no answer to this either. Instead, he asked, “Have you seen her yet?”

“No. Narvin is with her now. Have you?” Leela asked. 

Irving shook his head. “Not since the ambulance.” 

Truth to be told Romana had not exactly been herself at the time. They had been practicing a particularly challenging lift when something had gone terribly wrong. The fact that they had been skating a little faster than what would have been ideal wasn’t a problem as such, at least not until Irving failed to notice a crevice in the ice. 

As soon as he felt his ankle twist he had started to bring Romana down to try to break her fall. But he had been too late. Right after he had made impact with the ice, he heard a thump, and Romana had tumbled out of his arms. 

For a few seconds he struggled to stay conscious. Then he registered pain (and a lot of it) from his ankle, and staying awake suddenly wasn’t difficult. 

“They say it is a clean break,” Leela said, snapping him out of his thoughts. 

“You don’t mean-” his eyes flickered to the TV.

“Of course not. The doctors.”

“They told you?” 

Leela shook her head, but this time with a smile.“I overheard them talking. They said your ankle is broken and you need to stay so they can ensure that you do not have a concussion. But they did not mention Romana.”

Irving looked down at his right ankle, which had now been enclosed in a cast. It had been the first thing he looked at after their fall. He had stared in horror at his own foot, twisted into an angle that it definitely should not be in, for long enough he felt he might be sick. And then his mind had cleared enough for him to realise that it wasn’t his main concern right now.  

And he had turned his head to look at Romana, lying in a pool of her own blood, eyes closed. And that was when he had gone from thinking he was going to lose his career over this, to thinking he was going to lose something far more important. 

Braxiatel stopped that train of thought before it could go any further. “I thought Narvin was in Norway.” 

“He was,” Leela agreed. “I called him.” 

“Thank you,” he said tamely. Normally he would welcome the chance to spend some time with old friends, but this exactly a normal situation. 

“I do not think they will let me stay much longer,” Leela told him, running her fingers through his hair to push it out of his face. 

“If there’s any news-”

“I will be back,” Leela assured, leaning down and kissing his cheek. 

She stood, and made her way to the door, closing it behind her so Irving would not be disturbed.

For the first time since what happened he was alone with his own thoughts. Had he just been a little more attentive and a little less assured of his own abilities this wouldn’t have happened. 

Romana had been just out of his reach, and dragging himself to her had taken enough time that she had recovered from the shock of the fall. He didn’t dare move her, but as her eyes fluttered open he had reached for her hand. 

She had been confused and scared, so Irving had hardly taken offense when she had to ask him who he was. “It’s me, Romana. Irving. Brax,” he had said. Her eyes had gone unfocused again, but within seconds she was back. 

“We fell,” she concluded. 

“I’m sorry,” he had told her. “Romana I… I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.” 

Romana had looked at him again, like she was trying to work him out. 

And then the medics had arrived. He had been made to lie back down, and while he was answering questions about his injuries the ambulance had arrived, and just seconds after being moved there Romana had passed out. 

The image of Romana lying on the ice earlier that day, still burned into his mind’s eye, was the last thing Irving was aware of thinking of  before he fell, exhausted, into an uneasy sleep . 

-

A hand on Irving’s shoulder woke him. 

Damn. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep. Hadn’t wanted to fall asleep. Anything might have happened while he was unconscious.

“Romana is awake,” a familiar voice told him. 

“Is she..?”

“She’s fine,” Narvin confirmed, and Irving breathed a sigh of relief. 

“How long was I asleep?” He asked, as he tried in vain to sit up. 

“Little more than an hour,” Narvin said. “You might want to wait with trying to get up. Your ankle-”

“I need to see her,” Irving declared. “Narvin. You weren't there, you didn't see her. Lying on the ice, still and cold. I thought the worst.”

“I understand,” Narvin agreed. “But I doubt your doctors will.”

“They don’t have to know,” Irving pointed out. “Narvin, be a good chap and hand me those crutches.” 

“You’re not serious,” Narvin said, just as soon as he realised Irving was in fact entirely serious. “You know Romana will have my hide if I let you hurt yourself just because you couldn’t wait, don’t you?” 

“As will she if she finds out you stood and watched as I got up to fetch them myself.” As he spoke Irving sat up and started heaving himself towards the edge of his bed. 

Narvin, realising that Irving would break the other ankle before seeing sense, moved to get the crutches. 

“Sometimes I wonder why I even try,” he said, mostly to himself, before raising his voice. “You get to tell her this-” he gestured at the crutches before picking them up, “-is your fault.”

Irving’s face darkened. “I intend to,” he said, and Narvin knew the two of them were talking about completely different things. 

Irving had underestimated how much pain he was actually in. Had Narvin not been there to help him he would likely not have made it to the end of the hallway.

“Narvin?” Irving said. “Thank you."

“You thought I would actually let you walk here on your own, on that ankle?”

Irving shook his head. “For being here.”

“Oh,” Narvin said. “Well I... you’re welcome.” 

Irving hesitated, then leaned closer and kissed Narvin’s cheek, which turned three shades redder under Braxiatel’s lips. 

Narvin cleared his throat. “Just don’t make a habit of it.” 

“Kissing you? I’m rather afraid I shall. But not now.”

“No, you’re right. We had better go see Romana, before she decides to go looking for you.”

Narvin opened the door to Romana’s room. 

Leela, who was sitting in a chair next to the solitary bed in the room, turned to look at them, revealing a tired-looking, but gloriously alive Romana. Irving could have run to her, had it not been for the broken ankle… or the looks she was giving him. 

Romana’s gaze landed on Narvin next, and her face lit up.

“Leela mentioned you were here,” she said, gesturing for him to come closer. “I should slip more often… I think the last time I saw you two at the same time was… my birthday? Yes, it must have been. That’s over half a year.” 

Irving stood and watched, while Romana continued her greeting, going off on a tangent about how she had missed both Narvin and Leela, and they really ought to visit more often. And he knew he had messed up, and that he had just ruined Romana’s life for her, but he had expected… some reaction. Anger. Fury. Rejection. Something.  

A question snapped him out of his confusion.

“And who is your friend?”

Narvin frowned. “I don’t follow.”

“Well I’m hardly talking about Leela… no hold on.” Romana focused her eyes on Irving’s face. She studied him closely for a few seconds. “I know you. You were there when I fell. Are you a paramedic?” 

Irving felt as if he had just taken a punch to the gut and all the air had been forced out of his lungs. For a second time stood still between him and Romana, her question hanging in the air between them, as the world spun and spun and spun. 

“Romana,” he forced out. Whatever had come over him was over. The moment he spoke time had restarted, except nothing happened to Romana. She was still looking at him like… like he was a stranger. “Romana, it’s me. Irving. Brax.”

Romana frowned harder, like she was trying to remember something that was just at the back of her head, out of her reach. 

“Romana we’re… partners.” 

She shook her head. “I don’t… I don’t know you,” she looked back and forth between Narvin and Leela, who were looking more and more worried by the second. “Tell him. Tell him I don’t know who he is. Leela, you have to… I don’t understand why this is happening, Leela, I’ve never seen this person before in my life.” 

Irving thought, for a brief time, that he had possibly hit his head harder when they fell than first estimated, and he was hallucinating. But no matter how hard he willed this to go away nothing changed. 

“I need to… I need some air,” he mumbled to Narvin, and turned. 

He had made it halfway down the corridor when the same nurse who had been treating him earlier almost walked into him. 

“You shouldn’t be here,” she told him. 

“No,” Irving agreed. “No, I don’t think I should.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Irving is a melodramatic little shit, and Romana has a moment of realisation

The doctors had scanned Romana. And they had scanned her again. A specialist had studied the images. A psychiatrist had spoken to her. A therapist. A specialist with a title she couldn’t remember. And finally, she had been scanned again. 

From what she gathered, she had taken a fall during a training session, and had hit her head on the ice. It had been explained to her by several people, but the details were still foggy in her head, and when she thought too hard about it she ended up giving herself a headache. 

Her mysterious visitor, this Irving, had come back the day after she had woken up. He had been slightly more coherent this time. Leela and Narvin had been there, to make her feel safer, she thought. There had been doctors too. They explained that memory problems were not uncommon following a head injury. 

But she was certain. Whoever this Irving person was, there had to have been some mistake. She didn’t know him, and that was that. 

Except… well except she did know the rules of her sport. And ice dancing  _ was _ a pair sport. So she had to have a partner. But surely, it must be someone else. Surely she would have remembered them, whoever they were. 

Then, Irving had stopped by a final time. It had been night, and she had been lying awake. The door had opened, and she thought it was just a nurse come to check on her so she didn’t move. But then someone had joined her in the room. She had stayed still, hoping that the person would leave if she didn’t make any movements. 

“Romana,” she had heard him say. “I’m so terribly sorry for all of this. I know you are asleep and I know you don’t know me, and this won’t matter, but I truly am sorry for all the griefs my incompetence will cause you in the future. You won’t see me again, and that’s for the best. But I needed to tell you-” his voice had gone up by half an octave, and he had inhaled sharply, almost as if holding back tears, “- that I love you. With all my heart. I hope you are happy in your life, and that we never meet again so I can’t ruin you any further. Goodbye, love. I know you won’t miss me.” 

And he had left. Romana had stayed still, not daring to breathe until his footsteps had died. Then, as she exhaled, she had felt something warm on her face. And when she reached up to touch it, she had felt tears running down her own cheeks. 

-

Three days later, and Leela and Narvin were frantic. Irving had discharged himself first thing that morning, and had left no details on where he was going, or whether he was alone or not. 

And whereas Romana’s recovery was still at the forefront of everyone’s minds, finding Irving was high in their lists of priority as well. Whilst there had been no immediate signs of a concussion, he might still have suffered one, and could be in danger if that were the case. 

“Are you certain he didn’t say anything about where he was going, Romana?” asked the therapist for the third day in a row. 

“Yes!” Romana exclaimed. “He just said goodbye, and left.”

“Are you certain? Try to think.” 

“Well, I can’t can I?!” Romana snapped. “Ever since my accident, nothing I’ve thought, or felt, or remembered has made any sense.”

“We are all very concerned for Irving. And you would be too, if you remembered him.” 

“But I don’t, do I?” Romana said. “And that’s the problem. That’s why he left.” 

“This is not your fault, Romana,” the therapist tried to assure her. 

“Really? Because your insistent questioning certainly makes me feel as if it is.” 

“I think it’s best we stop for today. I apologise for any distress I may have caused.”

Romana sighed, rubbing her temples. “Thus far nothing of any significance has come back to me. Why do I remember some people and events, but not other?”

Her therapist offered a smile that was almost apologetic, as they got up. They stopped in the door, and looked at her again. “The brain is a complicated organ, Romana. And yours had a good shake when you landed. Even if you don’t have your full memory back, you are still making great progress with coordination and concentration. I have a theory that you don’t remember Irving specifically because he was there at the accident. Think of your mind like a computer. When you fell all of the files got mixed up. And before you passed out you might have seen him, and your mind went looking for the files to identify them. It remembers where it found him immediately after your fall, and every time you try to think of him now, that is where it is looking. But, since your brain is no longer in a state of shock, all the files have returned to their proper places. Your brain just needs time to work out where the Irving file has gone.” 

They left the room, leaving Romana to ponder on that. However, she wasn’t alone for more than a few minutes, before Narvin entered her room quietly and sat down in the chair next to her bed. 

“No news,” Romana told him. “I still don’t have any idea who or where Irving is.” 

“We will find him eventually,” Narvin said, as if to assure her. Once again Romana felt that sense of disconnect. She didn’t even know who Irving was, for goodness sake. And yet, the thought of never seeing him again made her feel… well  _ something _ . 

“Leela is still looking for him?” Romana asked. 

“She has looked in his flat, in yours, and has called the Braxiatels’ mother. She tried his brother as well, but with no luck.” 

“The Doctor was never easy to catch hold of-” Romana paused. “Irving is the Doctor’s brother. I don’t know how I know I just…. Do. I know the Doctor mentioned having a brother, but I’m certain he never mentioned him by name.” 

“So you are beginning to remember,” Narvin finished for her.

Romana smiled. “I hope so.” 

The door opened abruptly, and Leela ran in. She was out of breath, which was quite the feat considering she was a professional speed skater. “I’ve found him!”

“I remember who he is!” Romana replied, in a similarly delighted tone of voice. “Or, well, I’m starting to.”

“He is with a woman called Bernice Summerfield,” Leela told them.

Romana frowned, and then nodded. “Benny. I know where she lives. Let’s go.” 

“Oh no,” Leela laughed, no longer breathless. “You are not going anywhere Romana. You are still unwell, and I will not lose another one of you.” 

“Leela,” Romana protested. “I’m fine. Besides, it’s far enough to drive that we need to drive either way. I will be fine. Irving is my… my whatever he is. I want to be there.” 

Leela shook her head. “Romana. When I lost Andred I did not think I would ever love anyone as I loved him again. I was wrong. Now Irving is missing, and you have been badly hurt. I will not risk anything.” 

Romana looked at Leela for a few seconds. “Alright. Fine.”

“I will tell him that you remember,” Leela said, and kissed the unbandaged part of Romana’s forehead. “Then I will bring him back here, if I have to drag him all the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I would publish this tomorrow, but as it turns out I won't have time to. So you are getting it early. The last chapter, however, should be published as scheduled on next Sunday.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the story comes to a conclusion, as Irving and Romana work out to move on from their accident.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished this early, so i decided to post a day early. I hope you enjoy!

Finding a place to stay he would not be found had been surprisingly easy. Narvin and Leela had only met Benny a handful of times, so Irving had known they would not think to look for him here until he had worked out what to do next. 

The woman in question had just come home from another archeological dig, and to Irving’s luck, had managed to avoid hearing about his and Romana’s accident.

Benny had slept most of the first day he spent in her flat away. That suited him just fine, because he was really not in the mood for talking. 

The next day he had explained that he couldn’t climb the stairs to his fifth floor apartment with his broken ankle, a statement which was not untrue. Benny could see the reasoning behind this, and besides, now that she had caught up on her rest and had managed to wash the three weeks worth of mud out of her hair, she was actually happy to have him there. 

But on the morning of the third day, during breakfast, the question Irving had been dreading had come up. Benny had asked him if he and Romana had had an argument, only she hadn’t heard him calling her at all, and normally he wouldn’t last a more than five hours without talking to her. 

“Something like that,” Irving had replied, and had downed the rest of his tea. Benny had taken this as a sign not to ask. 

What Irving had forgotten was, even if Benny was not asking about an issue, that did not necessarily mean she was ready to let go of it. So while he was getting dressed Benny had called Romana. 

A fact which Irving only realised when Leela stepped into Benny’s living room. 

“Ah Leela,” he greeted, desperate to find a way out of this that did not involve him having to explain himself. “ I was… just about to call you. Yes. In fact, I have been meaning to do so. I have just been busy with…” 

“Hush, Irving,” Leela told him. “I know why you left.” 

Irving’s face fell. “I’m not going back, leela,” he said in a grave voice. “I won’t sit and watch while the person I lo- while Romana does not even recognise me, hoping that one day she might.” 

“Romana  _ is _ starting to remember you.”

“I… what?” Irving would have risen to his feet had it not been for the broken ankle. 

“She asked for you,” Leela told him. 

“When was this?” Irving asked. Maybe all wasn’t lost after all. Maybe he could still salvage part of his life. 

“This morning. We have all been worried for you,” Leela “You should not have run off.” 

Irving sighed. “Leela, you must understand. I have nothing left. Romana might never remember… well anything of me or of our career. I can’t skate with this foot. Everything I have ever worked for lies in ruins before my feet. I didn’t want to have to face it.” 

“No, Irving, it is you who need to understand,” Leela told him in a manner that left no room for discussion. “Your life is not ruined,” she huffed, “You have barely lost anything. Your foot will heal, and as will Romana’s mind.”

“The former, perhaps, but the latter none of us can be sure about,” Irving told her 

“You are acting like a coward,” Leela accused. “Hiding and skulking because you are afraid.”

“And would it be unreasonable if I were afraid?” Irving demanded. 

“Your fears will not go away because you run from them.” 

“No, you are right,” Irving agreed. “But nor will anything else happen. Leela I am living my worst nightmare, and no matter what I do there is nothing that I can do to change the situation. It's out of my control.”

Leela shook her head. “You are lying to yourself so you may take the easy option.”

“Romana was terrified of me!” Although Irving was clearly very upset, it was obviously not with Leela. 

“But she isn't now. She wants you there, Irving.”

“To explain who I am, perhaps. And what will I say? That I am the reason she lost her memory in the first place? That I am the one who hurt her?” 

Leela took his arm to gain his full attention.  "She just wants to see you. She thinks you don't love her anymore, and she doesn't understand why."

“I…” Irving started. “Romana really thinks that?”

“I would not lie to you,” Leela said matter-of-factly 

“No you wouldn't…” Irving agreed. 

He looked around, then down at himself. This would have to do. “Alright. I will come with you back. For now.” Irving pushed himself up using the armrest of the couch. “Right,” Braxiatel exhaled shakily.  “Let's go, then.”

The closer they got to the hospital, the more worried did Irving get. Now that she had convinced him that Romana needed him, Leela was set on him actually going through with this, for his own sake as well as Romana’s.

It was very clear from his posture as they walked into the head trauma ward. Had his hands not been occupied with the crutches, he would probably have been fidgeting. 

“Do you need help?” Leela asked him, giving him a knowing look to make it clear she was not talking about lending physical support but rather emotional. 

“No, I can manage,” Irving said. “But thank you, Leela” he added, letting her know he understood what she had really meant.

Before Leela could push open the door, Irving stopped her. “If anything goes wrong in there, don’t stop me leaving again.” 

“I would help you leave if it did.”

Irving nodded, grateful. “Alright. Let’s do this.” 

Romana and Narvin must have been able to hear them through the door, because they were  both looking up as Leela held open the door for Irving. 

Romana’s eyes locked with his across the room. “Brax,” she sighed with relief. To Irving, that was possibly the most beautiful thing he had ever heard her say. 

“Romana,” he breathed. He stayed in his place, unsure what to do next. Even if Romana remembered him now, that didn’t change that fact that all of this had been his fault to begin with. 

"Ah, Irving. You finally decided to crawl out from under your rock?" Though Narvin’s tone of voice was as sarcastic as ever, his eyes were fixed on Irving’s and were radiating concern. He was clearly trying to give both Irving and Romana some time to get used to each other’s presence, as both of them looked incredibly anxious.

“Hardly under a rock,” Irving protested, happily following Narvin’s lead.  “I was with my very good friend Bernice, who you would know about if you ever listened to any of my stories.”

“That would be a lot easier if you didn’t love the sound of your own voice so much,” Narvin said as Romana let go of his hand. 

“Boys. Now is hardly the time to argue,” she told them, but with that spark in her eyes that showed she clearly understood what was going on between Narvin and Irving. “And Narvin, I think we should let Irving sit, don’t you? He can’t keep standing there on one foot all day.” 

“Of course.” Narvin stood, but Irving did not immediately make his way to the now vacant chair. 

“Are you certain, Romana?” He asked, now entirely serious. 

“Of course I am,” she told him. “Brax I… I don’t remember everything yet. But I know who you are, at least.”

“Oh.” he hadn’t expected anything else, but it did explain why she wasn’t angry with him. 

“And I know you are… important to me,” Romana added. “I have this feeling, I asked Leela and she explained.” 

“Oh,” was all Irving had to say.    
  
Romana flinched. “I’m sorry.” 

Irving shook his head. “I’m the one who is sorry. This is all my fault, and I fear I may never be able to right all my wrongs.” 

“Leela also said you might say something like that,” Romana commented. “From what I gathered and from what I remember I was the one who was skating too fast” 

“I should have noticed that,” Irving protested. “That’s my job”

“As much as it’s mine. If you’re to blame for my head injury, then it’s only fair to say that your broken ankle is my fault.”

Brax was quiet for a moment before saying softly, “My broken ankle  _ didn’t  _ almost kill me.”

“I will recover,” Romana told him. “In time.” 

“I was terrified you might not.”

“Well I can hardly leave you now,” she said. “We’ve just qualified for the Olympics. It would be a shame to let that opportunity go to waste.” 

Brax hesitated. “We might not get to compete in the olympics anyway. With my foot and your head, it’s not even certain we will ever skate again…” 

“No,” Romana snapped. “Don’t say that. We have worked too hard for this. I’m not going to just give up and retire. We’re not done yet Irving Braxiatel.” 

“That sounded almost like an order,” Braxiatel remarked, smiling at her. This right here was the Romana he knew. The Romana that gave him hope that they might just do them impossible and actually regain their potential. 

“If it works, then it might as well have been,” Romana sat up a little straighter. “We set out to become the best, Brax, and that’s what we are going to be. Not just now, or next year, but as long as we are still skating.”

“I should very much like to make the attempt,” Brax agreed, and meant it. “But for now, we rest and recover.” 

“And as soon as we can, we get back to our training. We didn’t become World Champions by slacking off. We did it twice, and we can do it again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As some readers may have noted, there will be a fourth chapter of this fic. This will be published tomorrow (sunday).


	4. Epilogue

Romana exhaled and opened her eyes, as a hand, warm in contrast to the cold air in the arena, slipped into hers.  
  
"Ready?" Irving asked.  
  
"As I'll ever be," Romana said.  
  
"How do you feel?"  
  
Romana closed her eyes again, sighing.  "No headaches or dizziness. I am a little tired? But I think that's just because someone was hoarding all the blankets last night"  
  
"Making jokes? You really must be nervous," Irving smiled.  
  
"It's the most important competition in our career. Thus far, anyway." She frowned at him.  "And you? How do you feel?"  
  
"I like the sound of that." He paused, giving her hand a squeeze. "No pains or aches. Just nerves."  
  
In the background a commentator could be heard announcing them. “-And for today’s last contestants. Almost a year ago they both suffered serious injuries in training, and this is their first professional competition since-”

 

Still in the shadow of an archway, out of the eyes of the world, Romana reached up for Irving’s cheek and guided him down so she could press her lips against his briefly, careful not to spoil the makeup they had spend the morning applying on one another.

 

“Good luck, Brax.”

 

“You too, Romana,” Irving said, as the voice from outside announced “Representing Great Britain, it’s Irving Braxiatel and Romana Lundar.”

 

They made their way unto the ice, and did a round to test the ice and to greet their audience.

 

Their choreography was simpler than it would have been a year ago. They had learned from their mistake. Their goal had been to make it to the Winter Olympics, and here they were about to do what they loved most.

The first note of the music set them off. Coming together and apart in a dance of longing and of pain and first and foremost of love.

At the end of it, they were embracing, lips centimetres from one another's. It was all part of the act, but the joy of having fulfilled their goal was enough to make them want to lean that last bit forward.

Instead, when the audience roared to life with applause (a standing ovation, Romana noticed) they hugged each other as tight as they could.

There were no words exchanged between them then, both of them were still out of breath, and frankly too happy to speak.

They parted reluctantly, to skate to opposite ends of the ice and bow to their audience. As they both made their way towards the rink’s centre, Irving bend down to pick one of the many roses that had been thrown for them up in one smooth motion. When he met Romana again, he took her hand and kissed it in a staged manner, before giving her the rose.

Hand in hand they skated off the ice, both grinning like it was the best day of their lives.

Once off the ice they hugged again, and quickly made their way over to the couches set up for contestants to wait in while their scores were being decided.

They sat side to side, their grip on one another’s hands as tight as was comfortable.

“They scored 72.65 on their short dance. Not a bad score, but if they have any hopes of bringing medals home they need to get a nearly perfect score on their free dance, so if they look nervous that would probably be why… and the scores are coming in now. 117.89! This brings Irving Braxiatel and Romana Lundar’s total score to 190.54-”

They both realised what this meant a moment before the commentator continued to announce, “- And that means they score second overall and get to bring the silver home. After the journey they have had to get here, and after that spectacular performance, I think anyone will agree they have earned it. And they don’t even get time to celebrate, because the medal ceremony is about to start. On the ice now are the pair from Canada, who, with a score of 192.37 are the new Olympic ice dancing champions. And a what an amazing performance from them too,  they…”

The rest of the sentence seemed to fade into the background noise. Romana and Irving were both beaming at each other. All around them people were congratulating them, as they made their way towards the ice. They hadn’t even realised, but they still had their arms around each other from the hug they had shared as soon as their final placement had been announced.

The rose Irving had given Romana was still in her free hand, but was taken from her before the two of them walked unto the ice again and started skating towards the podium.

Through the entire ceremony they were smiling, and they didn’t let go of each other’s hands for a single second.

“Romana?” Irving asked, a murmur in her ear while they were standing with their brand new silver medals around the necks, the metal dull in comparison to their gleam in both their eyes.

“Hmm?” Romana asked, leaning back against Brax’s chest, still smiling at the applauding crowd.

“Marry me?”  
Both of them seemed equally surprised by his words. Whatever Brax had meant to say, this clearly hadn’t been it. But the smile that spread in his face, even bigger than it had been before when Romana nodded in response, suggested that he must be pretty happy he asked anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed. I do intend to write more in this verse, and I have already started the next story, so stay tuned for more.

**Author's Note:**

> New chapter will be posted next Sunday!


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